Why Do Snake Plant Leaves Turn Yellow? Explained With 10 Reasons

It is frustrating when your beautiful snake plant changes its color. There could be several reasons for snake plant leaves turn Yellow.

In this article we are going to discuss each possible reason for that problem. After reading the whole article you can find a way to treat your lovely snake plant.

Possible reasons for Snake Plant Leaves Turn Yellow

Over watering

Over watering could have bad repercussions and chances are that it could be sometimes fatal on them too.

Whenever you spot your snake plant leaf that has turned yellow, you need to figure out that something is wrong with the plant and do the necessary to save the plant.

When you spot your snake, the plant’s leaves have turned yellow, it could be due to overwatering particularly if you have provided it with an excess amount of water.

Generally, the leaves’ color of the snake plant should be dark green instead of yellow.

Root rot is a bad repercussion of overwatering. The simplest thing you should do is to supply a sufficient level of water for them to thrive whilst providing a proper pot which has enough draining holes.

When you do that, water could move through the draining holes without retaining any in the pot.

In addition to root rot, fungal infestation is another repercussion which you would go through because of over watering. Best is to water them once every two weeks to six weeks.

Weather conditions could also impact the watering frequency too. Alternatively, you could water them once the soil is in dry condition.

Read More: Important Snake Plant Watering Techniques | 12 Things You Must Consider |

Soil condition

You need to provide the right soil mix for the snake plant’s proper growth.

You need to make sure that the soil mix which you have grown the plants in should contain all the required nutrients.

Furthermore, the ideal ph. of the soil should be 6.1-6.5. When you provide a proper soil mix along with the right nutrients, it will help the plants to thrive well.

High temperature

Snake plants would prefer to have temperatures on a higher level so that they can perform well.

In case you keep them in colder temperatures, it will badly impact the cell walls of the snake plants.

Because of this, they will tend to turn their leaves to yellow. The most suitable temperature for snake plants should be 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit during daylight.

In the nighttime, the most appropriate temperature would be 55-70 degrees Fahrenheit. (12.78-21.1℃).

Extreme sunlight

If you expose your snake plant under intense sunlight for a prolonged period, it could also affect the yellow leaves.

Chances are that the sun rays which come across windows could harm the snake plants as well.

Simply because window glasses could intensify the sunrays and would cause it to lose more water and tend to turn their leaves yellow.

Best is to locate these plants under indirect sunlight and those conditions will help the plants to thrive well.

Fertilization

It is essential to fertilize them if you wish to maintain them in the best shape. When you fertilize them, you could provide the necessary nutrients for them.

Usually, snake plants do not depend on a lot of feeding. However, it would be necessary to feed them appropriately so that you could provide the necessary nutrients for them.

Consequently, they could maintain their best shape and thrive well too.

On the other hand, if you over fertilize them, they tend to turn their leaves yellow. During Summer and spring, you could fertilize them.

During spring you could feed them once and feed them once again in summer. Avoid feeding them in winter.

It is vital that you fertilize them at the right time with the right amounts without over feeding them. You could either use inorganic fertilizers or a chemical fertilizer or even compost for this purpose.

Weather

Snake plants do not prefer to thrive in colder temperatures, in case you expose them for such situations, your snake plant’s leaves would turn yellow.

As such, the best is to relocate these plants to an indoor place so that you could protect the plants from those unhealthy conditions.

Once the weather conditions get better you may relocate them outdoors.

Aging

Once you spot your plant leaves have turned yellow, it could also be due to natural aging. When those older leaves turn yellow, they tend to die faster.

You could ignore this condition as new leaves will emerge very soon.

Bugs

Bug infestation could also attribute these plants to leave their turn yellow and chances are that the entire plant could turn yellow too.

bugs such as mealybugs, aphids could mainly affect these plant leaves to turn yellow. To identify these issues, it is important that you conduct regular check ups on the plants daily.

Once you spot any plant turned yellow due to bug attack, you should immediately isolate it from the rest of other plants.

If mealybugs have invaded your plants, you could spot oval shaped cotton spots on the snake plant.

If your plant is under aphids attack, you could see clusters of aphids occupying your snake plant. they would be green, brown, yellow or even red.

It is very difficult to identify them as they are tiny creatures. When they are present, they usually tend to depend on the leaf’s juices and from its nutrients.

Once snake plant leaves turned yellow due to bug attack, they could even start curling too.

Diseases

Once you overwater the snake plants, it could also create fungal diseases as well. Root rot is also something which would create fungal diseases.

Moreover, if the soil is deteriorated and if the plants are growing in a compact manner, those would also help to create fungal diseases.

Fungal diseases could be very bad on the plants as it could impact the entire growth of the plant and it could also cause the plant leaves to yellow.

Some of the diseases which you would go through when growing snake plants are as follows,

Fungal leaf spots – in case there is any root deterioration present in the plant, it could badly affect the snake plant and turn their leaves yellow. Over watering could be the culprit for this condition also.
Anthracnose – you would experience this condition when you over water these plants or mist them excessively. In addition to that high humidity levels and if you have soaked the leaves way too much with water they could also cause this condition.

Pot size

Yellow leaves of snake plants could occur due to overcrowded snake plants in the pots.

Bear in mind that, if you grow the snake plants too compactly, it affects badly on the plant’s wellbeing.

When these plants lack enough space to grow well, consequently they would run short of enough nutrients too.

Treatments for snake plant leaves turn yellow

Whenever you spot any snake plant of which the leaves have turned yellow, it is important that you attend to them immediately and remedy them.

Some of the treatments which you could practice are as follows,

Treat fungal diseases

You need to do regular check ups on your plants and observe whether there are any fungal attacks.

To treat them, you could simply splash water on them and or even use an alcohol wet cloth to clean them up.

Apart from that, if the attack is on a serious level, you could apply neem oil or any other recommended insecticides to overcome the fungus menace.

Finally, you could disinfect the soil mix and the pot or the container which you have planted them too.

Watering

Be cautious in watering them to not over water them.

Always bear in mind to supply them with sufficient water and when you water the plants check whether the soil is entirely dry.

In over watering has caused your plant leaves to turn yellow, you need to immediately cut back in watering and give some more time to dry and settle.

Fertilizing

Feed them appropriately. Make sure that the fertilizer which you use to feed them contains necessary nutrients and it is a balanced fertilizer.

That literally means there should be an equal amount of right nutrients included in that.

Root tot

Once you spot any root rot, remedy it as soon as possible.

You need to ideally prune the infected leaves, or you could consider repotting them to treat this condition.

If your snake plant has become root bound, you need to provide it a slightly larger pot to grow well. Alternatively, you could even divide the big snake plant and plant them in divisions in smaller pots.

Temperature and light

Make sure you have placed the plant where it gets the right level of temperature too.

In case the forecasted temperature is going to drop, drastically you need to immediately shift it indoors so that you could protect the plant from colder temperatures.

Ideally you need to locate the plant where it could get indirect sunlight.

Prevention methods for snake plant leaves turn yellow

When it is the wintertime, you need to pay more attention towards it, especially by providing more light for them.

Always make sure that you keep the plant clean and maintain it well without letting it grow compact in the pot.

Whenever you chose a pot for these plants to grow, it should comprise of enough draining holes as then it could avoid the root rot.